Although four months have passed since Edward Snowden’s explosive NSA surveillance leaks, the most revealing details have not yet been published, and could be rolled out in the international media over the coming weeks and months, beginning with U.S. spying activities involving Spain and France. That’s according to Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who broke the Snowden story last June, and whose life has been drastically upturned since. “There are a lot more stories,” he said on Monday in Rio de Janeiro, where he lives. “The archives are so complex and so deep and so shocking, that I think the most shocking and significant stories are the ones we are still working on, and have yet to publish.”

Greenwald was speaking in a packed university gymnasium to hundreds of journalists, who are gathered here this week for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, a two-yearly event that rotates around the world, bringing together writers, television producers and editors to share information and collaborate on work. Here, Greenwald was something of a hero — the entire thrust of the conference centers on ferreting out secrets and wrongdoing—and the journalist received a rock-star welcome. And while Rio was chosen as the location for the conference years ago, it proved a fortuitous spot. Greenwald recently revealed on Brazil´s hugely popular Globo TV that the NSA had spied on President Dilma Rousseff, as well as the government oil company Petrobras. The news caused a furor in Brazil, not least from Rousseff herself, and she canceled a White House visit, originally scheduled for next week.

But in an hour-long discussion on stage with a Dutch journalist, Greenwald suggested that his life was now immensely complicated. A New York lawyer before turning into a high-profile blogger in 2005, he revealed that he was in daily contact with Snowden—a fact that came as a surprise to most in the audience—in what is an active collaboration to sift through the mountain of documents Snowden carried out of the U.S. Snowden contacted Greenwald and U.S. filmmaker Laura Poitras after taking the information to Hong Kong.

Snowden, who had top-level U.S. security clearance, spent a month in Moscow Airport’s transit area until Russia granted him asylum; the U.S. has indicted him for stealing state secrets and exposing them, charges which would likely land him in jail for the rest of his life.

In addition to his contact with Snowden, Greenwald said he was in daily communication too with Poitras, who is based in Berlin, continuing to dig into what Greenwald says is “thousands and thousands of documents.” The challenge of sifting through the information is now itself a risky endeavor. “We go to extreme lengths to make sure our communication is protected,” he said.

The work has made Greenwald himself a possible target of investigation, and he intimated that returning home to the U.S. would not be simple. British police detained his partner David Miranda at Heathrow airport in August, seizing computer hard drives, as Miranda was switching planes from Berlin, where he’d met Poitras. “We spent yesterday cloistered with British lawyers in a conference room, for the lawsuit against British authorities for detaining him for what amounted to 11 hours,” Greenwald said.

But the truly drastic impact has been on Snowden’s life, of course. And in a long discussion, Greenwald outlined how Snowden’s options for asylum had quickly shrunk after he left Hawaii in early June. Snowden flew initially to Hong Kong, where he made contact with Poitras and Greenwald. The two flew to that city, a Chinese special administrative region governed mostly by its own laws, to meet him.

Greenwald said he and Poitras locked Snowden in a room in Hong Kong for six hours after they arrived to meet him in order to “relentlessly interrogate him,” and to make sure that they were not being set up, or that the documents were not fake. Greenwald said the two were also anxious to ensure that Snowden, just 29 at the time, grasped the permanent impact on his future of exposing state secrets—and of insisting to the journalists that they publish his name. “We spent the bulk of that first week making sure he really understood what the implications were of revealing himself,” Greenwald said.

When it become clear that Hong Kong would not grant Snowden protection from U.S. authorities, he tried to reach Ecuador through Moscow and Cuba, but was stuck after the U.S. canceled his passport. Still, Greenwald said governments who had considered taking in Snowden had made no real effort to do so. “Venezuela could send a jet to Moscow any time to pick him up, but never did. Ecuador the same way,” he said.

So, is Snowden happy in exile in Russia, whose government has itself conducted widespread surveillance programs and routinely cracks down on subversive journalists? Greenwald replied: “Happy, in the sense that if the alternative is a cage in the U.S. for the rest of your life, then Russia looks a lot better.”

Heres some irony - the extreme overreaction to the 9/11 attacks, I think we can all agree, has been due to the fact that the attacks were seen (probably partly correctly) as an attack on US Capitalism. In fact, the attacks stimulated capitalism, locally, for a little while, Inversely the damage that US capitalism has done to itself with either financial deregulation or offshoring manufacturing (take your pick) over the past 35 years is far more permanent and much more grave than anything that fanatical salafist terrorists could come up with.

I seem to recall that a popular excuse used by the SS after WWII was , " I was only following orders." My point is no government should have unbridled access over it's populace and had Mr. Snowden been a Nazi leaking German documents to the US during WWII, he would be labeled a hero.

I truly believe he thought what was being done under the guise of "national security" was illegal and wrong.

Most of you who support Snowden completely miss the point. He signed a secrecy agreement not to reveal any classified material which came into his hands. Regardless of his motivation he violated that agreement and is therefore liable to the full penalties of the law.

All of you folks that support what Snowden did should realize that our government will do what is necessary to stop another terrorist attack by those cowardly groups who care nothing for human life, much less our civilization in this country. The tech age we live in puts us up against spies who don't even have to leave their desks to cause great damage to us by rendering our systems useless through internet hacking.

Yes we've lost much of our privacy and freedom of movement we all took for granted, but it was because of the response we've had to make to defend our country against those fanatics. And no, I'm not saying they weren't justified in their hatred of us for unjust wars and past events. The Arabs, etc. have a long memory and don't forgive or forget. We can't go back and erase some of those things that happened long ago, but we have to defend against terror threats and unfortunately some of them may come from within our gates.

Nobody likes what's going on, but what is our government to do, but try to keep a watchful eye and mend fences.

This
is a moment of thought that even after months have passed strong and serious
revelations are yet to come. The already declared leaks put so much strong and
serious impacts on states and people. US is having surveillance throughout the
globe without any discrimination of threats, friends and foes. It simply headed
towards one thing that US is having fears and insecurity from all the country
without exemption of its own nationals also. Now what most shocking is going to come forward.

Greenwald is a traitor. He left
The Guardian because the newspaper was forced to destroy the US documents that were stolen by Snowden. Greenwald could no longer release further US secrets
through The Guardian, so he'll now release our secrets to any online source through some online-only news site he is creating. Our nation, over the decades, has spent billions to
defend against the barbarians of the world and then these sickening, loud-mouth twerps
toss it all away to grab the spotlight. .

And there are people who still find this man, a traitor to this great nation of ours a "hero, a simple whistleblower." He is neither, he has chosen to hide like a rat in a country who laughs at human rights abuses whilst complaining about abuses in our country. Monstrously ironic and sad for this little man. Shame on him!

The end of days are upon us. Our government is near collapse, our country is going to go bankrupt and no one can stop it, we are at war with ourselves, we spy on ourselves and the rest of the world, we are destroying the environment, we have no brave leaders to pull us out of this mess, not here, not in any country. Bob Geldof is right, the extinction of the human race is close at hand. There is nothing that Snowden can reveal that isn't trivial by comparison. So Have a drink. Have many. Get ready to say goodbye.

The facts come down to, an American with a top secret clearance, unilaterally decided what HE thought should be released. How hypocritical is that...This guy put hundreds of people at jeopardy along with an entire nation. He had freedom of speech, the very privilege that he used in a treasonous way against his country. He paid no price..no price at all. The people who paid the price, are the folks serving our nation now and in the past who lost their lives giving this nutjob those freedoms. If anyone can actually believe that he has provided a service to this nation is living in lala land. Why is it ok for someone get these freedom's bestowed on them at the peril of anyone but them? Let someone else do the work...to even pretend to put expect anyone to honor (I'm literally choking on that word attached to him at all) and Americans should understand his sacrifice. My suggestion is that if you truly believe that what he did was honorable and Russia is the savior of you folks, then by all means.. please, please go to Russia, enjoy the privileges they bestow on you and let the rest of our citizens that still think this is the most awesome place to live on the planet Maybe we could then admit immigrants that truly love our country and appreciate every drop of blood that was shed for it. Time to step our of Leave it to Beaver land and understand that there of millions of new ways to destroy this country...Shall we not try in every way to defend against that? for our children, our grandchildren. Good God imagine if none of your relatives had come to this country for a better life and worked towards that? hmmm you may have grown up in Russia....

@pajim No one but you is missing the point. In the United States, It is illegal to A. Enter into a contract to do illegal things, or B. Obey an order you know to be illegal...The NSA surveillance program is illegal, the administration knows its unconstitutional , but will NEVER allow it to be litigated in court, they will invoke the cruddy, damnable doctrine of "state secrets" to prevent that from ever happening. Edward Snowden is, at this point, the only check on NSA power that exists. His "oath of secrecy" becomes irrelevant to his responsibility to disobey grossly unconstitutional orders.

MORPHEUS: "The matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. And when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we were trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of THAT SYSTEM, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand. Most of these people are not yet ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent upon the system, that they will fight to protect it."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXQozTxQSiE

@Onepatriot I think the very last thing on America's mind is the protection of Americans. The spying undertaken is not for Americans but for certain individuals to gain financial wealth and personal advantage. If America cared for it's people it would be working for peace not war. America taps potential drug sales. potential arms sales and where it would be possible to create a war to increase arms sales. They would have naïve citizens think they are acting for America but spying is all done for a small few to gain an advantage not for the wider public. Spying on Germany was for economic purposes and to gain advantages. Snowdon is a hero exposing this corrupt government and letting the world know that America is NOT a trusted friend. America will even allow Syrians to be gassed and think nothing of it. Assad got praise for the weapons he gave up but 90% of them were transported to Russian ships. And Assad who gassed his own people gets praise from the good old USA. Snowdon should expose the lying hypocrisy of America who to your face say friend but treat you coolly like an enemy. Snowdon did the right thing in exposing these bunch of crooks.

@Onepatriot Far More people are killed by lightening every summer than are killed by terrorists every year. Your fearful argument is weak and getting weaker every day. I fear my own government more than "terrorists".

@Libertyformeandmine That born-again fundamentalist Christian Tea Party, Ayn Rand yahoo will never be president. He could not even get certified by any reputable physician board association, so he "self-certified":

Paul has been certified by the National Board of Ophthalmology -- not to be confused with the centuries old American Board of Ophthalmology -- with himself as the organization's president, his wife as vice-president, and his father-in-law as secretary. The National Board of Ophthalmology is not recognized by the American Bd of Medical Specialities or the AMA.

He is Grover Norquist "tax nut." He and Daddy hate big government but strangely end up spending their careers suckling at its teat. Hypocrite and an idiot. These Tea Baggers are causing enough trouble. One cannot run a democracy using the "Left Behind" End Time series as a how-to book. No, Obama is not Nicolae Carpathia aka The AntiChrist. Jezz...

These people who crawl out of the authoritarian, warmongering, imperialist woodwork to besmirch the messengers of reality - they're as insidious as any other nationalist lemmings throughout history. Join a violent nationalist organization like the GOP or DNC if you want positive reinforcement of your hatred and your desire to render fellow people dominated by a surveillance state.

@lori8331Few if any of the wars this Wall Street Empire has waged in my lifetime can be called necessary, justifiable, or even legal. Maybe the shooting gallery of Sarajevo justified Clinton's bombing. But war is at best the failure of foreign policy. Typically, it is mere plunder, not only of the enemy, but of one's own people, their money, their sons, their hopes.

But the four million innocent Vietnamese, the million innocent Iraqis — they are not worth your tears, are they?

You have no evidence that Edward put anybody in any jeopardy, except for the traitorous leaders and those who profit from illegally spying on US. Your comment is the already totally discredited BS nonsense misinformation that hasn't been used by anybody with a working brain since at least July 2013. You must not have received your Fall 2013 N.S.A. Talking Points memo email from the White House instructing you of the new nonsense to say, might have been because of the government shut down. Look in your spam or junk mail.

Nobody has lost their lives serving this nation in over a century. Our military are used as thugs for Wall Street. There hasn't been a war that has been fought to make Americans safer, or to defend this country in any of our lifetimes. Even WWII was just a power play, we provoked Japan into attacking us, and Hitler was never a threat to US Sovereignty... the man couldn't even invade Britain, let alone North America. You sir are a brainwashed drone.

@lori8331 Horsepucky! The police state is already here in the USA. If this story isn't a red herring this man risked his entire life coming out exposing a teeny tiny tip of the iceberg on how utterly corrupt our own government and corporate controlled media. Unlike you, he has the courage to speak what he perceived as a threat to the constitutional rights of every citizen in the US. He did this for the sake of the TRUTH, he chucked his entire life down the drain for the sake of WE THE PEOPLE. Try some basic research into what our own intelligence community has done over the years such as in operation MK-Ultra, or what about Bohemian Grove? and all the CIA's trauma based mind-controlled assets. or the who is who in the Skull and Bones fraternity out of Yale, I could go on and on and on and on.

@nestor.marcus@pajimHear! Hear, sir. Damnable doctrine, sir, as are Star Chambers (now
resurrected in the USA), compelling to testify against oneself
(torture), False Flag attacks (so common as to dreary), and not to
forget, imposing the Nuremberg standard on low-level Nazis and a handful
of names, but transplanting thousands into the US secret services, and
allowing Karl Blessing, protégé of Hjalmar Schacht, and (dirty)
business partner of Allen Dulles, coverer-upper in chief of the Kennedy
Assassination. (Kennedy was the anti-Empire, and could not be allowed
to go on living.)

@Kii@DaveTursonSome
degree of “surveillance” occurs in every country. In the U.S. it increased
during WWII, etc. The data of American citizens is not accessed without a warrant.
Lemmings like you do not deserve the shield that our military provides.

@Libertyformeandmine@Impishparrot How can you call Obamacare a subsidy to the giant insurance corporations. Their rate of payments for services have been severely cut back by competition and since you all require "freedom of choice" we can't have public health care, so don't blame that part of it on "liberals". That was your favorite people railing against a "socialist" plan that brought that about.

People need health care. That's why poor people get to go to the ER's and my insurance had to pay for it. Did you think that was ok?

Don't you have to have auto insurance in case you have a wreck? People should have to have health insurance in case they get sick. Good Grief!

Robin Cook, Blair's erstwhile Foreign Minister understood the force-net in play. In the Guardian, he wrote (2005 — after which he also met a puzzling death):

"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by
western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA
and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of
Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the
computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and
trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and
with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to
Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden's organisation
would turn its attention to the west."

The collection and
storage of data and the gaining of access to that data are two different
things. The two articles you linked do not prove that the NSA is looking at the
data of US citizens without a warrant. Glancing at a US phone number or email address is not the
same as reading emails or looking at Internet search lists, etc. The NSA
handles foreign content and the FBI handles the content of US citizens -- but
only after a warrant is issued. If you interact with a known terrorist online,
or with your cell phone, then your data would be given to the FBI after a judge
issued a warrant.

The U.S. government has gone too far. It was too far when I was born in 1940, a reality I discovered pretty fast. But my blind "fellow Americans" would require a much grosser mix before even 10% possessed the alacrity to wake the hell up. It required treasonous actions of 9-11 before sufficient eyes began to open. Nonetheless, the America I know still deserves Hillary Clinton for president. Sure, I'll suffer her, too, but it will no doubt awaken even more holdouts against the truth, maybe even you, hector. But if you do awaken, don't come whining to me.